Trust in Fox News has dropped precipitously among viewers, as the conservative cable news juggernaut continues to feel the fallout from a series of ongoing lawsuits over the network's coverage of the 2020 presidential election.
More than one-fifth of Fox News viewers over the age of 18 say they trust the network less now, according to a Maru Public Opinion survey commissioned by Variety's Intelligence Platform and published on Thursday. This comes in the wake of court documents and released text messages showing that station hosts, producers, and executives privately denounced former President Donald Trump's 2020 claims of a "stolen election," even as they publically promulgated those same claims on air. All told, 21 percent of adult Fox viewers indicated they now trust the network less, compared to just 12 percent of overall adults. Similarly, although 50 percent of Fox viewers still said they believed the 2020 election was "stolen" from Trump, 13 percent of respondents said they "now do not believe the 2020 election was stolen due to voter fraud," after learning of NewsCorp chief Rupert Murdoch's testimony discrediting those theories, given during a deposition for voting machine company Dominion's $1.6 billion dollar suit against the network.
The survey, conducted between March 10-12 among 1,524 respondents, also found that fewer than 10 percent of Fox viewers aware of the lawsuits watched the network less than they had previously. This number was seemingly offset by other viewership gains, which has resulted in no net change for Fox, and "no impact to advertising, with no advertisers dropping or pausing," according to a network spokesperson statement to Variety. Relatedly, "more than half of Fox News viewers who said they were aware of the deposition and texts said they continue to trust Fox News," Variety reported. "Nearly double the percentage of the group that said they trust the network less."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
While Fox's bottom line may be largely unaffected by the Dominion lawsuit revelations, the network has nevertheless seemingly worked to distance itself from the former president whose outlandish allegations prompted the suit to begin with.
-
Scorching hot sauces that pack a punchThe Week Recommends The best sauces to tingle your lips and add a fiery kick to your food
-
Syria’s strange post-Assad electionThe Explainer Sunday’s limited vote ‘suited the phase Syria is undergoing’, says interim president
-
Why did the China spying case collapse?Today’s Big Question Unwillingness to call China an ‘enemy’ apparently scuppered espionage trial
-
Museum head ousted after Trump sword gift denialSpeed Read Todd Arrington, who led the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, denied the Trump administration a sword from the collection as a gift for King Charles
-
Trump declares ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartelsspeed read This provides a legal justification for recent lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats
-
Supreme Court rules for Fed’s Cook in Trump feudSpeed Read Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook can remain in her role following Trump’s attempts to oust her
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
Trump: US cities should be military ‘training grounds’Speed Read In a hastily assembled summit, Trump said he wants the military to fight the ‘enemy within’ the US
-
US government shuts down amid health care standoffSpeed Read Democrats said they won’t vote for a deal that doesn’t renew Affordable Care Act health care subsidies
-
YouTube to pay Trump $22M over Jan. 6 expulsionSpeed Read The president accused the company of censorship following the suspension of accounts post-Capitol riot
-
Oregon sues to stop Trump military deploymentSpeed Read The president wants to send the National Guard into Portland
